love in the time of trash fires

Max felt bad that Athena was so down about seeing her mom, but he also knew it was for the best. As much as it hurt, now Veronica could be truly dead to her and she knew she wasn't missing anything from a life without her mom. Michael was better than the sour-faced woman ever could be. Still, it was hard to see Athena so sad.

Her eyes were glued to the TV and she was wrapped in a blanket on the couch, but Max could tell she wasn't actually watching. Zip butted his head against her a couple times and she would absentmindedly reach over to give his head a scratch, but would pull her hand back under the blanket after a few seconds.

Max stretched his good foot out to poke her, but she ignored him. Then he took a piece of popcorn from the bowl nearby and tossed it at her. It bounced off her head, and she gave him an annoyed glare.

"Get your foot away from me," she mumbled. "I already told you, I'm not sharing the blanket."

"I don't want the blanket," he said. "And that's rude, considering you put your cold feet on me to warm them up all the time."

"You're a human furnace," she said. "Quiet, I'm trying to watch this."

"You're not watching anything."

"I am."

"No you're not," Max said. "We've been watching this doctor show for over an hour now and you haven't interrupted once to tell me about how unrealistic it is or how there's no way those neurologists could hook up so close to all that steralized equipment."

She ignored him, so he sighed and pushed himself upright. This got Athena's attention, but he raised a hand to let her know he was okay. He propped a pillow behind his back so he could sit up and look at her.

"See that? I'm doing better than you think I am," he said. "Now will you come over so I can give you a hug?"

"It's going to hurt your leg," she told him. "Or shake up your head injury again."

"My head injury isn't as sensitive anymore," he insisted. "A hug won't kill me, Athena. And you need it."

"I told you, I'm fine."

"Athena, I haven't properly held you in a month. I'm not fine. I miss you."

She finally turned to look at him, her expression more sad than angry now. Reluctantly, she scooted over on the couch to cuddle up with him on his good side. He was healing well, but she still seemed like she was scared she'd break him.

Out of nowhere, she started to sob. Max was a little startled at first, but quietly let her get all her bottled up emotions out while he stroked her hair. When she quieted down to sniffling, he finally spoke up again.

"Do you feel a little better?" he asked.

"Yeah," she sniffed. "It's just been a lot. Everything, all at once, from every direction."

"You're right, it's been a lot," Max agreed. "But it's finally slowing down for us. I get the cast off next week and the concussion should be healed by the time I get through my first few physical therapy sessions. Then I'll be back on my feet and back at work. Everything will go back to normal. You, Michael, and me. Living an honest life, and that's the extent of it."

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said," he said. "No more 'gang' affiliations, and no more racing. The Hounds are just friends and family now, and that's the extent of it. And racing... it was probably about time I retire anyways."

Athena sat up and wiped at her eyes to look at Max.

"You'd really give up racing?" she asked. "And the Hounds?"

"I'm not giving up the Hounds," Max said. "I'm just not one of them. And I promise, I'm done racing. I'm willing to do that for you."

"But you love racing."

"I love you a thousand times more," he said. "And I won't put you through all this again. No one is going to have a reason to put some messy hit out on me. Normal life."

She smiled for the first time all day, then leaned in to pull him into a deep kiss.

"No matter what anyone says, you were always the right choice," she said, resting her forehead against his. "Now, can we please watch something else? The innacuracies of this show are absolutely destroying me."

"There's my girl."

Athena was in better spirits the next few days, which was a relief. It seemed like since Max had promised to give up his thuggish and reckless lifestyle, she was a little bit at ease. She still protested when Max told her she should go back to work, but she wouldn't be able to go with him to physical therapy anyways. One of them needed to help Michael out at the clinic, and the poor man was swamped.

Max felt weird with his leg out of the cast, and his muscles had atrophied a bit in his broken leg. He wasn't in pain anymore, but he was still too weak in that leg to stand without the crutches. Athena was reluctant to leave him at the therapy clinic before she left for work, anxiously waiting for the therapist to come out.

"Athena, you can go," Max insisted in the waiting room. "Michael is waiting for you. You're going to set the appointments back."

"It's okay if appointments are a little delayed," she said. "I just want to meet the guy. My dad has been handling the place on his own for a while now, he can handle a little while longer."

Max rolled his eyes, flipping through a magazine for the next few minutes while they waited. Finally, a man came out to greet them. He was an older man, but only his greying hair and lines around his eyes showed it. He had the muscles and body tone of a man in his early twenties. He smiled as he shook Athena and Max's hands.

"Pleasure to meet you both," he said. "My name is Brian Anders, I'll be working with Maxwell to get him on his recovery path."

"Max is fine," Max said. "Can the recovery path be more of a recovery highway? I'm ready to speedrun this and get back to my life."

He winced when Athena punched his arm and glared at him.

"Max, knock it off," she scolded. "I'm sorry about him, he's antsy. I was just wondering, could I just see your credentials? And maybe your work history? Do you have patient reviews?"

"You can find my information on my website," Brian said, handing her a business card. "I've been in the business twenty years, and I assure you I'll treat Max here with care. I can also give you a pamphlet with our training methods-"

"Yes, I'll take a pamphlet," Athena said eagerly. "And pamphlet for your other treatment plans, too. Just to compare."

"Of course."

"I'm sorry," Max said. "She thinks she's dropping me off at preschool for the first time."

"I understand," Brian chuckled. "I promise you'll be seeing results soon, but it takes work and patience. It's good to know you have someone who cares this much about you."

Max cracked a smile at Athena, who smiled back despite how annoyed she was. She took a deep breath, then leaned in and gave Max a quick kiss.

"Okay," she said. "I guess I'm leaving you in good hands. Call me if you need me. Thanks, Brian."

Max watched her leave, though she was still peering in at him through the window as she walked away. Brian was grinning the entire time.

"She's quite the powerhouse, isn't she?"

"You don't know the half of it."